A communication system may be a facility that enables communication between two or more nodes or devices, such as fixed or mobile communication devices. Signals can be carried on wired or wireless carriers.
An example of a cellular communication system is an architecture that is being standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). A recent development in this field is often referred to as the long-term evolution (LTE) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) radio-access technology. S-UTRA (evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access) is the air interface of 3GPP's Long Term Evolution (LTE) upgrade path for mobile networks. In LTE, base stations or access points (APs), which are referred to as enhanced Node AP (eNBs), provide wireless access within a coverage area or cell. In LTE, mobile devices, or mobile stations are referred to as user equipments (UE). LTE has included a number of improvements or developments.
A global bandwidth shortage facing wireless carriers has motivated the consideration of the underutilized millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency spectrum for future broadband cellular communication networks. mmWave (or extremely high frequency) may, for example, include the frequency range of approximately between 28 and 300 gigahertz (GHz), as an example range. Radio waves in this band may, for example, have wavelengths from ten to one millimeters, giving it the name millimeter band or millimeter wave. The amount of wireless data will likely significantly increase in the coming years. Various techniques have been used in attempt to address this challenge including obtaining more spectrum, having smaller cell sizes, and using improved technologies enabling more bits/s/Hz. One element that may be used to obtain more spectrum is to move to higher frequencies, above 6 GHz. For fifth generation wireless systems (5G), an access architecture for deployment of cellular radio equipment employing mmWave radio spectrum has been proposed.
Mobile stations or user devices (e.g., smart phones or other mobile devices or wireless devices) may be served or connected to a serving access point (AP). However, some situations may arise that may cause the user device to lose its connection to the serving AP. In some cases for 5G or mmWave wireless systems, a wireless link between an access point (AP) and a user device (UD) may become blocked.